It has been a very long time. Due to injuries, I had to back off on my normal routine. What injury? First, I cracked the ball on my left shoulder using the Ab Blaster. Apparently, the shoulder was not designed to carry the full weight of a person horizontally. I was doing full arm extensions with the entire weight of my body hovering three inches above the floor. I would like to caution anyone who has shoulder pain, get a MRI. Xray will not provide the detail needed. My doctor told me at first to just get used to pain since he saw nothing on the Xray. I pushed for an MRI and sure enough, clear signs that the ball had split down the center and was bleeding. BTW, pain of this sort will make a grown man cry, yes I did and it freaked out my wife who has never seen her husband cry. Scared the kids too.
So after the several months of healing and paranoia of not want to hurt myself again, I switched my routine. But as life would have it and not being used to a rental house with carpeted stairs, I fell down a flight of stairs, not once but three times over a month. And then my ankle rolled on the driveway into the planter. Yes, it was a tough year.
Yet, after moving back into our home, I was helping my son and his friend earn some money by digging holes in the yard for plants. I fell into a water slough head first and once again landed on my right elbow which whacked my right shoulder and gave me a wonderful sciatic nerve pain in my right leg. While my left shoulder has completely healed, the right shoulder and sciatic nerve issues continue.
The worst part is the disrupted sleep. Due to the pain, I have been living with 4 good hours of sleep each night with 3 hours of tossing. And we know how important sleep is to muscle rebuild.
In order to help with my recovery, I have tried all sorts of helps. I spent a month going to the Chiropractor four times a week with only a slight improvement. I submitted to a deep tissue massage on my leg which seemed to help a bit but only lasting a couple days. And after trying all the physician paths and associated Opiate based drugs, I finally found something. An EMS or TENS unit.
The best relief I have experienced so far is the use of an Electronic Muscle Stimulation (EMS) or Transcutaneous Electrical Nerve Stimulation (TENS) unit. Basically, electrode shock therapy. Below is an article that gives a good overview of the history of the Russian Mode which has provided the best results. Since I work in front of a computer all day and on the phone, using the EMS unit is easy. Hook up the pads before a call and let is work away while you work.
www.electrotherapy.org/modality/russian-stimulation-and-burst-mode-alternating-current-bmac
I know it sounds crazy, but I'm actually not feeling too much pain anymore, at least enough to get back into my routine. Plus, I believe that the EMS has prepared my muscles to get ready in a smooth fashion which will keep me from injury again. I HOPE.
I will let you know how things work out. It has been discouraging fearing injury which has affected motivation. In the last two weeks, my motivation has returned and I am hopeful I can get back on track. However, being in my mid 50's, I will try to stop thinking like a 20 year old. LOL.
